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Mobility training

While sighted children watch others to develop their skills, children with a vision impairment often need extra help establishing some concepts – and Movement Matters helps them do exactly that.

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Habilitation (orientation, mobility and independence) training for children and young people

Habilitation is the process of helping children and young people with a vision impairment to achieve as much independence as possible in their daily lives. The delivery of habilitation training is the responsibility of your local authority.

It’s generally best to start habilitation as early as possible, with orientation and mobility training provided continuously as the child or young person grows up and encounters new situations. By building on their skills, they’ll gain the independence to move through life with confidence.

How can Movement Matters help my family?

Training to help children and young people with a vision impairment (CYPVI) move around safely and independently

Life skills training such as handling money, preparing food and managing appearance

Advice and support workshops for parents, carers and professionals, such as Parent Guidance Days

Tailored programmes including early motor skills, sensory development, body awareness and wheelchair mobility for children with additional and complex needs

Group sessions, such as living skills workshops, Early Years sessions and sensory groups

As well as training, we can help you understand how to support your child, who is visually impaired or partially sighted, in school, at home and beyond. We’re also on hand to provide resources that can help you manage meetings with professionals, as well as signposting you to any other relevant support services or collaborative partners.

Each of these services are delivered by our qualified Habilitation Specialists, who work to achieve desired outcomes alongside other professionals such as:

Paediatricians

Qualified Teachers of the Visually Impaired

Speech and Language Therapists

Physiotherapists

Occupational Therapists

Movement Matters empowers families, helping children and their loved ones understand that vision impairment need not be a barrier to reaching their potential.

Nell's story

On the night Nell Sutton was born, when visitors had gone home and the hospital ward was quiet, mum Rachel whispered a promise to her new-born baby girl.

"It was just me and her, and I promised Nell that she would be able to do whatever she wanted to do."

Frequently asked questions

It’s ultimately the responsibility of your local authority (LA) to provide habilitation services for visually impaired children and young people. Movement Matters can be provided in the following ways:

Contracted delivery

Guide Dogs will deliver defined habilitation training for a local authority or school at an agreed price. This can include a family purchasing a service with a personal budget.

Grant or trust funded work

Guide Dogs delivers a programme, course or service such as an Early Years group, or practical activity sessions.

Direct delivery

Guide Dogs receives an enquiry directly from a family. In these cases, we will always contact the LA to:

Let them know (all those working directly with children are duty bound to communicate with each other).

We need to be sure we’re supporting local authority services, rather than duplicating or undermining them. That’s why it’s important we collaborate with local authority providers and other partners – so you can benefit from the best habilitation service available.

Following discussions with your family, we may be able to provide time-focused, individually tailored programmes with clear outcomes, delivered by our qualified Habilitation Specialists. This could involve:

Helping to secure a longer-term service from the LA, for example by carrying out an initial assessment.

Raising awareness of the importance of habilitation and the expectation that the LA should provide it.

Helping to ensure that habilitation is included in a Child’s Plan, Education Health and Care plan or Statement of Educational Need (dependent upon UK country).

We aim for our services to be consistently delivered and available to all who need them.

At Parent Guidance Days, we encourage parents and carers of visually impaired children to meet and chat in a safe, relaxed and comfortable environment to explore and discuss the possibilities for their child.

These events can help you gain a practical understanding of how you can support your child’s journey towards greater confidence and independence. Informal and interactive, Parent Guidance Days take place all over the UK and are led by qualified Habilitation Specialists, who can answer questions and signpost you to where you can find more information.

Learn more about Movement Matters

If you’d like to find out more about how we work together with families, carers and professionals to develop children’s vital movement, orientation and independent living skills, download our Movement Matters leaflet below. Note that Children and Young People’s services differ slightly in Scotland and Northern Ireland – please download the Movement Matters leaflet most relevant to you.

Guide Dogs is a working name of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Registered Office: Hillfields, Burghfield Common, Reading, Berkshire RG7 3YG. A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (291646) and a charity registered in England and Wales (209617) and Scotland (SCO38979)